Contents

Design

The Tanker in GTA 1 is designed as a straight truck with a cab-over design and a tanker load. It is one of the most durable vehicles in the game, being able to withstand a lot of damage. Despite it being a large truck, the Tank is able to drive over it.

The Tanker in GTA London 1969 is designed as a generic British lorry of the 1960s. It bears a logo that resembles the former badge of British Petroleum.

In GTA San Andreas, the Tanker appeared with a semi-cab design. It is one of the more popular of the three trucks in San Andreas, being encountered more than any of the others (the Roadtrain and the Linerunner), and is generally designed as a mid-sized semi truck smaller than the Roadtrain but larger than the Linerunner. Finally, this truck, like all the others can attach a trailer in San Andreas, making the experience even better. It looks loosely based on a Mack R series, but more closely resembles the Peterbilt Model 379. Like the GTA San Andreas rendition, the Tanker in GTA Chinatown Wars is designed as a conventional cab semi-trailer truck, but is only available with a permanently attached tanker trailer.

GTA 1.

A variation of the Tanker in GTA 1, available only during one mission.

Performance

Surprisingly, the Tanker in GTA 1 has the highest top speed - if driven on a straight road, for long enough, it will keep picking up momentum - much like the Bus and Coach.

After an examination of internal files, it is clearly shown that the Tanker in GTA San Andreas is the slowest of all three but it has better acceleration than the Linerunner. In-game gameplay, however, has the truck performing better than the Linerunner, with an unusually better top speed of about 130 km/h (80 mph), as well as superior acceleration and hill climbing power. Its lower body height also makes it less vulnerable to rollovers than the Linerunner.

In GTA Chinatown Wars, the Tanker's long length and large weight makes the vehicle less than suitable for intensive driving, faring poorly in top speed and acceleration, as well as poor cornering (often requiring a large turning radius) and braking. An interesting new feature is the ability for the trailer to leak fuel, introduced to the player in the mission Trail Blazer. If the end of the vehicle is shot, a line of flaming fuel will spout from the trailer, setting alight any other vehicle the player drives past. Over time, the flame gets closer to the trailer, though the player can gain themselves more time by driving quickly. If the flame reaches the end of the trailer, the trailer itself is set on fire, and after a short while it will blow up dramatically, usually killing the player and harming anyone else near the vehicle.

Trivia

In GTA San Andreas, the game's internal files refer to the Tanker as "petrol".

In GTA San Andreas, the default radio station in the Tanker is K-DST; in the DS version of GTA Chinatown Wars, it's Prairie Cartel.